Making What You Do Important
Post by Michelle Griep
When what you do is something that you make important, it doesn't matter so much what you do.
Some things we don't do by choice:
- cleaning the toilet
- phoning Great Aunt Gertrude
- filling out tax form 2350
And some things we do because we want to:
- eat a quart of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey
- put the pedal to the metal on an empty stretch of asphalt
- sleep in until noon
The question isn't what things do you have on your To-Do list, but how do you make those things important? Even the mundane? Even those you're dragging your heels to accomplish?
The second list, the things we want to do, is the biggest no-brainer. The answer is passion. Putting your heart and soul into something you love to do is easy and that passion shows up in the finished product.
It's the first list, the things we don't want to do by choice, that's a real drag. How can you muster up passion for the IRS? You can't. So clearly passion isn't going to work to make anything on that list important. What is the answer, then?
Gratitude.
Finding a reason to be thankful in any situation tends to make that item important to you . . . and in turn gives value to the outcome.
Is all this too nebulous for you? Let's try an example.
Let's say you just got back a brutal critique on a piece you wrote. You don't have any passion to dig into all those ugly red marks and plot changes. But if you think about it on a deeper level, could you be thankful that someone took the time to help polish up a piece of your writing before the general public sees it, covering your backside so that even uglier reviews don't slap you upside the head?
Giving value to your work, making it important, no matter what kind of work it is, is as simple as changing your perspective.